results of research currently undertaken by the Austrian National Research Network (NFN)

Levavi, Yuval: "Why does he write these vicious words?" - The letter dossier of an early sixth century qīpu and a šatammu from the Eanna archive. Final Version.

Poster presentation at the 59th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, July 15th to July 19th 2013 in Ghent, Belgium.
Abstract: The letter dossier of a royal commissioner (qīpu) of Eanna, Ninurta-šarru-uṣur (16 Npl- 26 Nbk) and the temple administrator (šatammu), Nabû-aḫḫē-iddin (±7-19 Nbk), can serve as a test-case for an epistolographic study of Late-Babylonian temple archives within the context of the study of Babylonian bureaucracy in the 'long sixth century'. All together, ca. 90 letters were written to/by Ninurta-šarru-uṣur and Nabû-aḫḫē-iddin (some 15 letters are addressed to the qīpu/šatammu and the identification is not certain).
By examining the rhetoric (e.g. self-justification, argumentation and expressions of emotions) employed by these two officials in their correspondence with each other, as well as with other temple and palace officials, we can get a better understanding of Babylonian bureaucracy and “ethos of service”.